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Année Lafayette In Boston
They were all there: the Marquis de Lafayette of course, but also the Comte de Rochambeau, the Admiral de Grasse, and sixteen American World War II Veterans who participated in the Liberation of France in 1944-45. On May 19, 2007, they were all in Boston’s historic park to bear testimony to the strength of the French-American friendship.
With French and American regiments in uniforms of the Revolutionary period participating all along, the ceremony on the Boston Common combined a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Hero of the Two Worlds, and a tribute to the American soldiers who crossed the ocean 63 years ago to free France and Europe from oppression. A wreath was laid in front of Boston’s Lafayette Monument, a city that the Marquis particularly dear to his heart, and where he returned many times.
Then, more than 600 guests and passers-by gathered to pay tribute to the courage of sixteen World War II Veterans from New England. After representatives of the US Armed Forces thanked the honorees for their service, the Consul General awarded the Cross of the Legion of Honor to these sixteen men. “The trust we forged from Lafayette to the beaches of Normandy is the key our indestructible friendship,” he said. “And this same trust in our common values and our common mission will continue to inspire us to act together for a freer, more peaceful, and more prosperous world.” The honorees were then saluted by a firing of the volleys, fired muskets and two horse-drawn cannons.
Embassy of France in the United States - 2007
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